1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that recovers residual toner left on an image carrier after transferring a developer image on an image receiving medium and a developer recovery method in an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A device using a magnetic roller as a cleaning means to remove and recover residual toner left on a photosensitive drum after transferring an image at an image forming apparatus of an electro-photographic system has been disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent No. 5-289594. However, for this cleaning means according to a magnetic brush roller, it is required to supply proper bias voltage between a photosensitive drum and the magnetic brush roller in order to get the good cleaning property.
On the other hand, there is an image forming apparatus using such a cleaning unit 1 as shown in FIG. 1 as a cleaning means to scrape off residual toner from the surface of a photosensitive drum with a cleaning blade.
The cleaning unit 1 has a carry-out paddle 6 made of a magnetic material for feeding waste toner scraped with a cleaning blade 3 to a recovery auger 4 that conveys waste toner toward a recovery box.
The cleaning unit 1 using this type of carry-out paddle 6, that is made of a magnetic material, has a film-shaped peeling member 7 that contacts a blade portion of the carry-out paddle 6 and peels off waste toner adhered to the carry-out paddle 6 to the recovery auger 4 side, and whenever the blade portion 6a of the carry-out paddle 6 is rotated, the peeling member 7 is brought in contact with tile blade portion 6a and peels waste toner therefrom.
Therefore, during the cleaning, the peeling member 7 is brought in contact with the blade portion 6a whenever the carry-out paddle 6 is rotated and the contacting sound and vibration tend to be produced and furthermore, the peeling member 7 is subject to the abrasion by the contact with the carry-out paddle 6
Therefore, for an image forming apparatus that is installed in an office and demanded to be kept in a calm and satisfactory environment, it is demanded to reduce noise and vibration of its cleaning unit as could as possible, and a cleaning unit capable of certainly feeding waste toner that is scraped with a cleaning blade to a recovery unit is demanded so that more higher cleaning effect can be obtained.